Comment on Commentary from Supervisor Pete Livermore: “Let the people vote on the Nugget Project” by Nevada Man
Submitted by on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 7:32pm
I will be much more comfortable if this project will be decided by the people of Carson City instead of a board of easy-to-impress supervisors. I’ve been calling it the Nugget Stimulus from the beginning, and I haven’t seen anything since, that prompts me to change that tag.
On the contrary. It looks more and more as if the only objective of this project is to bring the city to place public buildings on Nugget property, so the casino can charge a lease. The apparent requirement that taxpayer dollars be spent first, before any private investment is made, strongly supports this impression. There appears to be no guarantee that the private investment will actually be made, once the public buildings are completed. In case the Nugget decides to go out of business because demand doesn’t justify a continuation of the operation any more, no one is obliged to make that investment. But the city will still be required to pay the lease to the owners of the property.
Another red flag are the proposed office and apartment buildings. If there were really such big demand for offices and apartments, the Nugget could buy the Ormsby House for a fraction of what it promises to spent on the current plan, turn it into a first class office/apartment complex with convention spaces and an indoor plaza where the casino floor used to be, and eliminate a potential future competitor in a shrinking market at the same time. Two birds with one stone! But maybe the Nugget’s owners don’t want to be in the gambling business any more. Cut the headache of having employees, complying with regulations, dealing with vendors, and whatever else it takes to run a casino, and just lease the property for less, but much easier, money and a more attractive profit margin.
It is common knowledge in Carson City that the Nugget “encourages” its employees to stuff the ballots so it wins as many categories as possible in the annual “Best of Carson City” awards. Most people are amused by it, and why not. After all, these awards don’t mean a thing, and it makes good lore to impress strangers and grandchildren. Unfortunately, it also documents how little respect the Nugget management has for rules and fair play.
Which may allow the possibility that less than democratic and fair attempts might be made to influence the result of a public vote on the project. I still favor this procedure over a BOS vote, though. It will be much harder to impress more than half of Carson City’s voters.
